Kier Starmer is going full-fat Farage. He’s now talking about processing asylum seekers overseas. The prime minister, speaking in Albania, said the government had begun discussions about sending asylum seekers abroad for processing after their claims had been rejected in the UK. This is not with Albanian. They denied being involved, so we don’t know where this might be and Starmer refused to enlighten us. I suppose Rwanda may even be back on the table. I really despair at the strategy. He will never attract actual or potential Reform voters. They are lost to civilisation, empathy and rational thinking.
Farage is running a “cult” according to Rupert Lowe, where the leader can do no wrong. The former Reform MP (now an independent) has spoken out after the CPS said they wouldn’t prosecute him over allegations he assaulted somebody in the party. Lowe has called Farage a “coward and a viper”, going on to say that “for the good of our country. Nigel Farage must never be Prime Minister.”
Regardless of that, millions are set to vote for him and nothing that Starmer does or says will ever persuade Farage's followers that Labour is anything like a substitute for the real thing. Worse, by emulating Farage, he’s alienating the very people who would otherwise vote Labour, driving them into the arms of the LibDems and the Greens. It is a no-win situation for Starmer who is I fear going to do a Johnson, losing office after one term when he had a thumping great majority.
Lowe said: “If Farage were ever to control the vast power of the British state, I believe he would not hesitate to do to his adversaries what they have tried to do to me."
These things are all reminiscent of Trump and his ilk in the USA from whom Farage is learning his trade. He would be a disaster.
Immigration is certainly an issue and it does need to be controlled but it was made worse when the Tories tried to extinguish Faragism by copying it and accidentally giving us Brexit.
Chris Philp, MP for Croydon South and the shadow Home Secretary (that alone shows just how low the Tories have fallen) was caught in a leaked audio recording admitting that it wasn’t until Brexit that the party realised we wouldn’t be able to return asylum seekers to France under the terms of the EU’s Dublin III agreement.
BREAKING: A leaked recording obtained by @news.sky.com reveals top Tory Chris Philp admitted the UK couldn’t return asylum seekers to Europe post-Brexit, despite promises made at the time— Peter Stefanovic (@peterstefanovic.bsky.social) 14 May 2025 at 19:12
It’s another clear and compelling reason for rejoining the EU but Starmer seems fixated on ignoring it.
In the single market with free movement of labour, businesses could recruit skilled and unskilled workers from anywhere in Europe and if the work dried up, the workers could move back to their home country or to elsewhere in the EU. Polls regularly show a majority of voters in Britain are not opposed to the free movement of people.
You would think a smart lawyer like Starmer would easily be able to construct a convincing case, for a jury already more than half disposed to it remember, that rejoining the EU could cut the small boat problem, gain flexible access to the workforce we need, spur economic growth, increase the tax take to improve the health service, and reduce overall immigration. But perversely, he won’t even consider it!
Instead, Starmer adopts the language and the policies of Farage, an obvious demagogue and a man who has inflicted immense damage on this country over the last quarter of a century. If mainstream, moderate Tory politicians had opposed him head-on from the start with clear arguments instead of trying to outflank him we wouldn’t be in the mess we are. The old Tory party is no more and will probably never be influential ever again. Farage has killed it.
If you want to see how far Starmer has shifted position in five years, take a look at this:
2025: Keir Starmer suggests that pressure on housing and public services is because of migrants 2020: Keir Starmer, "Poor housing, poor public services are not the fault of the migrants, they're political failure"— Farrukh (@implausibleblog.bsky.social) 12 May 2025 at 15:16
His answer to Liz Saville-Roberts during PMQs in the Commons wasn’t worthy of him. He could have delivered a put-down if that was what he wanted but with a clever quip, not an insult. We used to expect a bit of erudition from our MPs. The house is increasingly filled with Lee Anderson types, but that shouldn’t include prime ministers.
Cheap response from Starmer to a fully justified question from Plaid's Liz Saville-Roberts— Adam Bienkov (@adambienkov.bsky.social) 14 May 2025 at 12:28
Ms Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru MP for Dwyfor Meirionnydd, wasn't talking 'rubbish' as Starmer claims and as you can see above, which is probably why he was stung by her criticism of his shifting stance.
Unless the PM, who I still think is at heart a decent man, changes tack the same fate that has befallen the Tory party will engulf Labour. On the bright side, it presents a massive opportunity for the LibDems and the Greens.
